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Add FightsATW on GoogleThe boxing ring is a paradox of glory and danger. It is a sport contested with nothing but two fists, each one capable of delivering victory, defeat, or something far more permanent. Every punch carries the dual possibility of triumph and tragedy, while an unseen storm hangs over the canvas—one that can break without warning, turning a night of combat into irreversible consequence for both the fighters and everyone watching.
The story of Prichard “Digget” Colón heartbreakingly illustrates the risks combat athletes face every time they step through the ropes.
It is a tale of stolen potential, an official’s oversight, and a decade-long battle. Once regarded as one of Puerto Rico’s most radiant rising stars, Colón’s promising career was cut short in a single night in October 2015. On August 13, after nearly eleven years of enduring severe neurological damage from that devastating bout, Prichard Colón passed away at the age of 33, leaving behind a legacy that forced boxing to confront its own dangers and permanently strengthened safety protocols in the sport.
The Beginning
Prichard Colón was born on September 19, 1992, in Maitland, Florida. At age ten, his father, Richard Colón, moved the family to Orocovis, Puerto Rico, so Prichard could represent the island on the amateur stage.
In the gyms of Puerto Rico, Colón earned the nickname “Digget”—a nod to his towering 6-foot frame and restless work ethic in the ring. Colón proved to be an outstanding amateur boxer. He was a 5-time National Amateur Champion, a gold Medalist at the 2010 Pan American Youth Championship and finished his amateur career with an impressive record of 170–15.
When Colón turned professional in 2013, he looked like the complete package. Unusually tall for his weight class, he was fast and powerful, with genuine knockout power. Charismatic and handsome, he possessed a commanding presence inside the ropes that quickly made him a favorite among boxing fans.
By September 2015, he had risen to 16-0 with 13 knockouts. After a sensational fourth-round stoppage of former world champion Vivian Harris at the Ricoh Coliseum in Toronto, Colón appeared destined for the bright lights of super welterweight stardom.
No one could have imagined that his next fight—a last-minute addition to a card just five weeks later—would be his last.
The Fateful Night
On the night of October 17, 2015, at the EagleBank Arena in Fairfax, Virginia, Prichard Colón stepped into the ring against Terrel Williams in what was supposed to be another step toward boxing greatness.
The fight opened at an unusually high tempo for a first round, both men firing hard punches right away as they tried to seize control. Though the pace was sharp, there was nothing extraordinary about it—nothing that hinted at the tragedy about to unfold. With 45 seconds left in the first round, Prichard taps the back of his head, signaling that he has been hit there. It was the first of the infamous insidious punches that would alter the lives of the three men inside the ring.
Twenty seconds later, Williams fired another illegal punch toward the back of Colón’s head. Though the shot missed, Prichard acknowledged the near miss with a mocking smile—a gesture that did not go unnoticed by the ringside commentator, Kenny Rice, who remarked, “And you saw kind of a smirk there from Colón, where he almost expected the punch to the back of the head.” By the time the first round ended, Williams had already thrown three illegal shots to the back of Colón’s head.
Halfway through the second round, during a clinch, Colón is hit in the back of the head again. This time, he deliberately looks at the referee and sucks his teeth, as if to say, ‘Are you going to do anything about this?’
With 33 seconds left in the seventh round, Colón is hit with a significant punch to the back of the head and goes down to the canvas, holding the back of his head. The referee signals for a timeout. Before the action resumes, commentator Kenny Rice notes, “I didn’t see a firm warning to Williams on shots to the back of the head.”
In the ninth round, Colón is knocked down twice. The second knockdown comes from another illegal blow by Williams. Once again, the referee misses the foul, issues no warning, takes no point, and instead begins his count—crediting Williams with two official knockdowns. To add insult to injury, with one more round still to go, Colón’s team begins removing his gloves, believing the fight is over. The result is a disqualification loss for Prichard.
The Fallout
In the dressing room shortly after the fight, Colón began experiencing extreme dizziness, nausea, and vomiting before collapsing into unconsciousness. He was rushed to Inova Fairfax Hospital, where surgeons discovered a massive subdural hematoma—a severe brain hemorrhage caused by trauma to the back of the skull, where the brainstem meets the spine. Doctors performed an emergency hemicraniectomy to relieve the swelling, but the damage was irreversible.
Colón slipped into a coma that lasted 221 days. When he finally emerged, he remained in a persistent vegetative state, unable to walk, speak, or care for himself. For the next decade, his story moved from the ring to his family’s home in Winter Park, Florida. His mother, Nieves, and father, Richard, provided round-the-clock physical therapy, care, and unwavering love.
Referee Joseph Cooper, who oversaw the bout, faced intense public scrutiny for his handling of the fight—particularly for dismissing Colón’s repeated complaints about illegal punches to the back of the head. Virginia’s Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation investigated Cooper along with the ringside doctor and others involved. In March 2016, the agency concluded that no regulatory violations warranted disciplinary action. Cooper was temporarily sidelined from officiating in Virginia during the probe but later returned to refereeing, never receiving a formal suspension or ban.
After the fight with Colón, Williams did not return to the ring for nearly two years. He returned in late 2017 and fought a handful of times, finishing his professional career with a record of 18-1 (13 KOs). His final fight was a unanimous decision loss to Thomas Dulorme in September 2019, after which he retired from boxing.
Williams has repeatedly said that the fight deeply affected him. In the immediate aftermath, he stated he could not celebrate the victory and was worried about Colón. In later interviews, he said he prayed for Colón daily and that the night changed his life forever. He was never formally disciplined or banned by boxing authorities.
Since retiring, Williams has kept a very low public profile, largely staying out of the media and the boxing spotlight. As of Colón’s death, there has been no widely reported public statement from him.
In 2021, the World Boxing Council (WBC) recognized Colón’s courage by naming him an Honorary WBC World Champion and presenting him with the iconic green-and-gold belt.
While Colón’s career ended that night in Virginia, his tragedy forced boxing to confront its failures. Outraged by the officiating and medical oversights during the fight, it was clear that boxing officiating needed reform.
In 2016, the WBC instituted the Prichard Colón Rule—a zero-tolerance policy against blows to the back of the head. Referees are now strictly required to issue immediate warnings and point deductions for any intentional or careless shots to the nape, an area particularly vulnerable to catastrophic and potentially fatal trauma.
A Community Mourns
FightsATW reached out to some within the boxing community. This is what they had to say:
President of the WBC, Mauricio Sulaiman
“Boxing is a great sport which has been constantly evolutionalized with changes in rules and protocols to make it safer for anyone who enters the ring. The WBC has changed countless rules, such as reducing from 15 to 12 rounds the championship fights, making the official weigh-in ceremony a day before the fight, and many more.
“However, boxing is a contact sport and has implicit dangers.
“Prichard Colon case was devastating to the world of boxing and motivated the ring officials’ training and mechanics to reinforce the rule, which even the WBC named ‘The Prichard Colon Rule’. It is forbidden to intentionally hit behind the head.
“Prichard will always be remembered for his courage and will to live, for the love and passion with so much dedication from his mother and father and the so many friends who always reached out and enjoyed a good laugh with him even under the most difficult circumstances.
“Today, Prichard Colon is eternal. Long live the champ.”
Zachary Ochoa, Pro Fighter
“When I first met Prichard, he was really cool; one of the nicest guys that you would ever meet. He had all the potential to do something great. He was an all-around wholesome kid. I didn’t know him outside the ring, but whenever we met, he was always smiling and always happy to be there.
“He enjoyed the moment, enjoyed the people, and I do remember he was fighting a lot. I remember in 2015, I got a bunch of fights, and then he got a bunch of fights, and I was like, ‘Damn, he might get more fights this year.’ I remember when he beat Vivian Harris because he fought back-to-back each month. I thought he was fighting a lot, which is pretty good, but I remember thinking, ‘They might have to slow him down a little bit.’
“He used to walk around like a big boy. He was always in shape, but he was a big boy. He walked around at about 170 lbs. When he fought Vivian Harris, they were around 150 lbs. In less than a month, he had to get drained back down to 147 lbs to fight the guy (Williams) he fought in his last fight. An undefeated tough dude, and I was so surprised that he was fighting this fast. My trainer at the time and I were talking about it, and I said, ‘This is a little bit too fast for him.’
“And then during the fight, we know what happened. A potential superstar messed up the rest of his life because he was moved too quickly. He should have taken at least two or three months off for his brain to be properly hydrated. Then the referee made bad calls and didn’t disqualify a guy or stop the fight. Some people say it was the referee and that it was his fault. Or the guy he was fighting made the fight rugged because he was less skilled than Colon. It wasn’t one person’s fault. It was EVERYONE’S fault. He should have never been in the ring that night, especially after the weight he had to shed. It was too soon.
“I’ll always have love for Prichard Colon, and I didn’t know him personally, but I did know somebody else very close to me, Patrick Day [who also tragically lost his life after a fight]. And it’s just another one of those things where we lost another good man, a good kid in boxing, and I’ll forever love those guys.”
Paul Magno, Owner/Managing Editor: The Boxing Tribune
“Prichard was maybe the sweetest person I’ve come across in this business. He first wrote to me as a reader just before his second pro fight, and we maintained an ongoing conversation that lasted up until his injury. Our boxing talks eventually shifted to girls, cars, family, and other things, but I came to appreciate just how thoughtful and kind this kid really was.
“Just two days before his last fight—deep into fight prep and with all the fight-week craziness going on—he checked in on me because he saw that I had gotten a new gig: ‘Congrats bro. hope this opportunity brings great things for you and the family. I believed in you before you believed in me!’ That was Prichard Colon.”
Ricky Gonzalez, Boxing Referee
“In regard to Prichard Colon, I had the honor of reffing one of his earlier fights. He was a gentleman in the dressing room. Very professional and respectful. It’s a travesty that he passed away. Boxing is a very dangerous sport, and this tragedy doesn’t happen often, but when it does, it’s magnified and puts a negative view on the entire sport. Understandably so. As a referee, you have the responsibility of having the fighters’ lives in your hands. With that being said, there may have been fights that, according to the media, certain fights may have been stopped too early. Better early so that he/she can go back to their family as opposed to going to a cemetery. God bless his soul.”
John Scully, Boxing Trainer and former world title contender
“I can’t say that I knew Prichard extremely well or anything like that, but he did train at the gym I was at in Florida for a while before his final, fateful fight. I always remember that he seemed to be a very nice kid and that everybody seemed to gravitate towards him. He was one of those people who, when he walked into the room, everybody smiled at the sight of him.”
Stephen “Breadman” Edwards, Boxing Trainer
“Pritchard was an excellent fighter with lots of promise. I think he had world champion potential. It was unfortunate what happened to him. May his soul rest in peace.”
R.I.P ‘Digget’
On October 17, 2015, three men entered the ring one way, and all three left forever altered by the aftermath. Referee Joseph Cooper—whether rightfully or wrongfully—became the poster child for what bad officiating looks like. Terrel Williams saw his public image completely tarnished amid immense backlash from boxing fans, and has since retreated into silence, making hardly any public appearances or statements. Cruelly, it was Prichard Colón and his family who suffered the absolute worst outcome of this tragic situation.
Prichard Colón’s story is a heavy cross that boxing still bears. It stands as a harrowing testament to the sheer magnitude of sacrifice made by fighters and their loved ones every single time a boxer steps into the ring. In no other sport is the edge between glory and catastrophe so razor thin. The outcome of a battle within the squared circle is the most unpredictable ending in all of athletics. However, that danger can be mitigated if every referee, corner, and commission places the fighter’s safety above all else. Victory cannot come at the cost of a human life, and winning must never matter more than walking out of the ring alive.
Rest in peace, Champ. Your long fight is finally over.
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